The school board at Twin Rivers R-X on Thursday approved the addition of a broadcast and multi-media curriculum after a presentation by Jerry Whitlow, computer teacher at the school.
During his presentation, Whitlow explained the focus of this curriculum.
“This will be a class to allow a creative outlet to share what matters to them and to this community,” Whitlow said.
School board member Billy Watson said the students in this class would not be the ones out there covering all of the basketball games and school events. It would be used for a more individualized and creative outlet.
Whitlow did see in the future, perhaps, the students could create advertising which could appear as part of their broadcast material.
Whitlow stated in his presentation that three things were necessary for this to work: a clear plan, the right people and the proper tools. He said they already had the first two, but were lacking the third.
After doing some research, he found what he was looking for with David Davis, a teacher from Hillcrest High School in St. Louis. Davis created a very successful curriculum, and has since retired.
“He’s so good at what he does,” Whitlow said.
The ASB (Academy of Scholastic Broadcasting) curriculum is the one Whitlow proposed Twin Rivers to adopt. By using this, he explained the school would be able to flatten the learning curve by learning from some of the mistakes Davis made.
“It’s a great resource for starting this new class,” he said.
The current, less-detailed course has three students, one of which appeared at the board meeting to give his teacher moral support during the presentation. Chase Nehrkorn just completed his first-ever podcast with Mr. Gonzalez, the music teacher, who just created and implemented a gaming club.
Whitlow’s presentation explained which hardware and software would be necessary. His goal was to have 12 work stations, but he was only asking for funding for three right now. All of the software has individual licenses which need to be renewed annually. He asked for Adobe Creative Cloud software because it was the state of the art.
“Students can learn to use this in high school, and then when they graduate, they could go out into the world, immediately and get a job, using what they learned here,” Whitlow said.
Quotes were given on the cost of a camera and tripod, but he was prepared to include more quotes if needed.
Whitlow predicted growth of interest in this program once it got going.
Eventually, he would like to have a lab with as many as 19 work stations for students, and one for the teacher.
The school board voted to approve the amount of $12,000 for the purchase of 12 computers, including the software and hardware.
Superintendent Ben Johnson explained that ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Funds) 3 funds could be used to pay for the curriculum. He said using those funds would create a situation where the school could support this for at least three years.
Fisk principal, Leean Mann discussed with the board the upcoming Bus Driver Appreciation Day, set for Monday, Oct. 18. Any students who scored with proficiency in literacy, math and science will be granted a day off from school.
This year, the day off is Nov. 19.
Mann reported she also has been working with staff to improve the appearance of the gym mats by painting them.
“The whole gym looks amazing,” Mann said.
High school principal Misty Lovelace reported Jerry Whitlow’s business class had a live presentation by Keith Parker from Farm Bureau Insurance, while Charlie Barker with FFA presented Landen Hillis a free FFA jacket for properly reciting the FFA creed.
In BETA news, six members participated in the Beta Leadership Summit at Southeast Missouri State University. Serenity Porch was selected as Leadership Representative for the 2022-2023 and will interview again at the National Beta Convention next summer. Porch, along with Holly Hequembourg, Kaci Rose, Alexis Yeley and Hannah Patterson also qualified for the national competition in the Collaboration Connection event.
During Red Ribbon Week, a special assembly will be held in the high school gym on Oct 27. WaWanda Nehrkorn explained Twin Rivers has been selected for an in-person assembly. Representatives from MoDOT and AAA will be impressing upon students the importance of wearing a seatbelt.
“They are very excited about doing an in-person presentation. Most school presentations have been virtual lately due to COVID,” Nehrkorn said.
District Technology Director Manda Hequenbourg reported on the use of grant money to get more laptops for the district. She gave a breakdown by school to show the number of chromebooks per school. Hequenbourg said 20 new laptops were purchased using CARES grant funding.
She has 49 laptops on the way, and expects 40 more in the next year.